Police warn of rising Ebay fraud

CBC News (Canada) ^ | 9-13-03 | CBC Online staff

[PatrioticCowboy]

Police warn of rising Ebay fraud

Last Updated Sat, 13 Sep 2003 11:23:21

EDMONTON - Police in Alberta are joining forces with their colleagues in the U.S. to fight crime that knows no borders: Internet and telephone fraud.

Alberta will be joining B.C., Ontario and Quebec, which already have agreements with U.S. authorities to share information.

The main focus will be call-centre fraud in Canada targeting Americans, but police are hoping the co-operation will allow joint investigations in Internet crime.

One area of Internet crime that is growing is fraud involving the online auction site Ebay.

Users of the site sometimes post an item for auction, receive payment, but never send the goods.

Ebay customers also sometimes receive e-mail messages that appear to be from Ebay, but are actually from someone trying to rip them off.

They're called "spoof" e-mails. They look authentic, carrying the Ebay logo and an Ebay return address.

They threaten to cancel customers' accounts if they don't reply with their account information.

If a costumer does, the person who sent the e-mail can use the account to place bids and charge the customer's credit card.

Representatives from Ebay say spoofed e-mails are a serious problem and undermine costumers' confidence in doing business online.

Internet security advisers warn never to give out log-in information over e-mail.

Written by CBC News Online staff

[vaudine]

Thanks for the phone #. I recently received one of the authentic looking scam requests for all my personals. I knew it was scam but couldn't find a way to report it.

I also had a hard time finding a way to report a new email address, but finally found that.

These things ought to be very easy to find and be defined by large and eye-catching print.

vaudine

[MarkL]

I just purchased a Compaq server from a vendor on eBay, and decided that just in case something was wrong, I used an escrow service. They guarentee that if the seller isn't legitimate, they will not be payed. Only legitimate sellers would allow the use of escrow. It costs a bit more, but IMHO, it's worth it.

Mark

[Swordmaker]

think there is a threshold for me when I am no longer going to send money off to an unknown without the online escrow services. It would kick in way before $1900

Even WITH an escrow service, the scam can work because many people accept the seller's escrow service... and sometimes it REALLY IS the seller's escrow service: a scam site operated by the seller!

If you are going to buy, select your own escrow service from ones suggested by eBay.

[xp38]

Of course you are correct.